And the Answer was…

Well, my
dear as your memory is so much better than mine, you won’t have any difficulty
in realising to what I’m alluding – come on, please give it a little thought
and I know you’ll realise!

I’m so sorry
that I’m forgetting myself in the general excitement of the moment. How are you today? Have you had a good morning? Please sit down and we’ll have a cup of
tea. There, that’s much better. Now where was I?

I had a
visit from Georgie, my friend from across the corridor – although we have been
friends since we were both small girls.
Just to think that we’ve known each other for well over sixty years is
quite worrying – how the time has passed so quickly and yet, all these years
later we find ourselves living in small flats opposite each other in this
retirement complex. It’s a very small
world my dear.

As I was
saying, I had asked Georgie to come for a cup of tea although we had actually
decided that we would go across to the The Roasted Bean and have a snack while
we were there. It’s nice to be able to
pop out and the coffee shop is so convenient for us. Unfortunately, we had a change of plan, as
the weather was absolutely appalling. It
poured with rain, became terribly windy and was quite chilly. We decided via text messages that we would be
silly going out when we could stay lovely and warm indoors. The thought of putting all those extra bits
of clothing on, just to cross the road, and then to take them off again in the
coffee shop didn’t appeal to either of us.

So Georgie came to me instead and we had a lovely natter here. It would have been very nice to go out, but we decided that we could go another day when the weather was a little more accommodating. Fortunately Giselle had rung me earlier in the day to ask if I would like her to bring me any baking. Well, of course I asked if she had any chocolate brownies and a couple of fruit scones. She also reminded me that she had made a few cheese scones as she knows how much I enjoy them.

It was lovely
having a brief chat with G as I hadn’t seen her for a couple of weeks. She updated me with a few bits of gossip and
we had a coffee as she wasn’t in too much of a rush. She had already taken some of her wonderful
baking into the coffee shop to fulfil their order. Apparently that is working out really well
for both her and the young owners. I am
delighted as G is a great girl and her baking is divine. I eat far too many of her little buns and
fruit tarts but they are so delicious I can’t refuse them.

I’ll update you another time with the news G told me yesterday. It’s all very interesting but I need to concentrate on what she said and the ramifications of it before letting you know. I’m sure you will understand. I always verify everything and don’t just take G’s word for everything. She does get a little carried away at times and some of her stories can have a habit of becoming rather embellished. In most instances this is fine, and doesn’t affect the outcome, but when it relates to the residents here, I like to confirm the facts before misleading stories hit the headlines. She doesn’t deliberately alter the gossip, she just gets carried away and a few bits get added without her, or anyone else, noticing.

Back to my visit from Georgie yesterday morning and she arrived on time as we both think it is important to be punctual. I dislike waiting for people to appear when a time has already been agreed. I’m sure you agree that it’s purely good manners. I had set out the tea cups and saucers, together with a little plate of Giselle’s baked goodies. As it was still morning and the scones were fresh from the oven, I just put butter in a dish, together with another small dish of homemade jam.

Once we had
sorted ourselves out Georgie started to tell me that Billy had suggested that
he would like to marry her. I know she
was looking closely at me when she was saying this, so I feigned surprise, and
did so well, I nearly dropped my saucer!
I’m sure that Georgie thinks I know more than I was saying, but she
wouldn’t ask me outright – in that way, I didn’t need to fib to her, something
I really dislike doing anyway. Once I
was over my supposed surprise, I asked Georgie if she would like to marry him –
and of course, she needed to talk it through.
This is what I expected. She and
Billy would have had a conversation, but she would need to mull it over and
then have a chat with me to put her thoughts into some semblance of order.

I asked her
if she had made a list – showing the “pros” and “cons” of marrying him. At our time of life we don’t want to rush
into things. We are set in our ways, to
a certain extent, and Georgie has lived on her own for some considerable time,
so it would be a big step to have someone else there all the time.

We chatted things
through for over an hour with Georgie vacillating from one thought to the
other, finding it difficult to make a decision.
To me, that felt as if that was the decision. I didn’t think she was ready to go ahead, so
it would be best to put the whole idea on hold for a few months.

However, the
more Georgie thought about the more positive she became and eventually she
decided that she would like to be married to Billy, but they would need a
larger apartment. Apparently she had
already told Billy that she didn’t want to move out of the complex as she likes
the folk here and it is convenient for her.
I was really happy to hear that as it would be a major blow for me to
lose such a close friend. I know we
would continue to keep in touch if she moved, but it is nice having her living
here.

So once that
decision had been made, she asked me to be her Matron of Honour at the wedding,
which will be a very small event. Of
course I accepted and we said that we would have another chat in a few
days.

We finished
our cups of tea and scones and then Georgie went on her way to tell Billy about
her decision. I waited until I received
a message from her to say that they had spoken and that she had told Billy that
she would like to marry him, before I decided to tell you. It would just have been ridiculous for me to
update you yesterday and then to find her on my doorstep saying that she had
changed her mind. Anyway I know that
they have gone out today in order to look at engagement rings. I know that Georgie won’t want anything too
flashy or large and will chose something very simple and tasteful for the
design.

Right my
dear, the day is running away from me again.
I’ll make sure that I take a picture of the ring once it has been bought
so that I can show you. As Always –

With Love –
Jan xx

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Published by Jan

I'm retired, disabled and after sudden death of wonderful husband, have moved closer to my son, daughter-in-law and baby, Charlie. I live in sheltered housing at the bottom end of the scale called Independent Living.
I had been in an online Knit and Natter group for a couple of years before Ian died and the members of the group were and still are a wonderful support to me. Since moving here I have now got my own little Facebook group where the members are now my friends and extended family.
It was suggested that I write a blog - so here we are!!
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Well, Julia – none of us are getting any younger and we certainly couldn’t be called Spring Chickens!! I’m hoping that Georgie won’t want a proper Hen do – but if pressed I suppose I could sort something out! xx